DIALING FOR DOLLARS

There was something unusual about a telephone bill I received at home recently. One of the entries was a $7 charge for a one-minute local telephone call. Right below that was a $6.46 charge for another local one-minute call. I don't consider myself a cheapskate, but those fees sounded pretty high for calls within the city of Chicago.

Then I noticed another strange thing about the phone bill. These calls were not listed in the regular Ameritech section, but in the part of the bill in which long-distance calls are usually listed. But it wasn't under my regular long-distance carrier. The Ameritech bill reported that these rates were being collected for a company called Integretel.

My first thought was that I had been "slammed," that is, that my long-distance account had been changed from one carrier to another without my permission or knowledge. I thought it was time to call Integretel and unload some of my excess hostility on them.

Of course, you know what has happened to the telephone industry in recent years. You don't just call a company and talk to a human being. You must first be vetted by a computer.

I patiently listened to various options offered me by the recorded voice-mail system. I did not hear any instructing me to push a number if I felt I had been screwed by Integretel, but there was a number listed for billing inquiries, so I punched it. At that moment, it was 8:02 a.m.

Periodic recorded voices suggested that maybe I should punch another button and leave a voice-mail message. After a couple of dozen announcements, each one matched by the heartfelt sentiment that "your call is important to us," a human being finally came on the line. It was 8:16 a.m. But at least it was the same day.

Teeth clenched, I asked politely about the one-minute, $7 local call. The Integretel woman checked into her records and found the questioned telephone call. "Yes, that's the correct charge," she responded. "In fact, there is another charge for $6.46 registered at about the same time," she added.

"Isn't that an outrageous charge for a local call?" I asked, somewhat testily.

"Well, I don't know," she answered. "Integretel is only a collection company for several providers of telephone service." With the plot thickening, I asked her for whom her company was collecting these charges.

"Let's see. That is Intellicall Easy Star."

"I never heard of them," I shot back.

"Intellicall is a company that owns and operates public telephones. They tend to be in hotels, hospitals and jails. It appears someone used an Intellicall public phone to make a call and probably dialed 'O,' which is what resulted in the additional charge." (That someone happened to be a member of my family who was not in a hospital or jail.)

As a courtesy, the woman offered to make a one-time partial refund of the charge. Later, I contacted Dallas-based Intellicall, but a spokesman said they make pay phones but are not one of the hundreds of companies that operate them. It must be another company, the Intellicall spokesman reported.

While I try to get to the bottom of this, please keep in mind a warning from Ameritech: The best way to avoid high access fees is by using the toll-free 800 number on calling cards. Any other way of dialing can have you end up with some huge bills. You should also check the front of the pay phone to see whether it is owned by a reputable company or an off-brand operation.